Many shoppers use lists, such as grocery lists, to keep track of items to be purchased. A common type of notepad which may be used for this purpose may include a stack of paper sheets that are bound together with a gummed adhesive and allow the user to remove, or tear off, individual sheets from the stack of sheets as needed. Other types of notebooks include three-ring binders, clamp-type binders, spiral-bound notebooks and “steno” pads.
Consumers frequently shop or conduct other errands armed with coupons or other loose items in addition to their shopping lists. Coupons are particularly popular with grocery shoppers, who frequently collect a number of coupons. As a result, shopping may become challenging as consumers attempt to simultaneously hold their list, hold their coupons, select and segregate the coupons to be redeemed, and select merchandise to be purchased.
U.S. Pat. No. D378,685, issued to French, et al., discloses a pouch having a plurality of small holes along a longitudinal edge. U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,433, issued to Wien, et al., discloses a binder having an outer transparent window with a zipper to provide access to the inner cavity of the pouch. U.S. Pat. No. 2,677,376, issued to Brunner, discloses a pocket for ring binders, wherein the pocket may be bound together with a stack of papers by a three-ring binder. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,022 to French discloses a pouch which can be slid over the cover of a notebook, such as a spiral bound notebook. However, the prior art fails to provide a solution to the problem of organizing coupons together with a notebook. Other prior attempts to solve this problem include using envelopes and other similar storage containers to store the coupons and list. However, unsealed envelopes are unsatisfactory, because such envelopes do not properly retain the coupons therein. In addition, if the shopping list is kept on a separate sheet, the list can become separated from the coupons.
Accordingly, there is a need for a notebook for making lists and notes. There is a further need for a notebook capable of holding small objects such as coupons. Finally, there is a need for a notebook capable of keeping the objects secure to prevent accidental loss.